Telepharmacy scorecard: Activity and quality indicators for the pharmaceutical care in a hospital pharmacy service

Telepharmacy, as a complementary activity to face-to-face pharmaceutical care in a Hospital pharmacy service, must have specific activity, effectiveness and quality indicators. The objectives of the  project were to design a scorecard of activity, effectiveness and quality  indicators that will make it possible to assess the situation and progress of Telepharmacy and enable continuous improvement. A tool is also provided to measure the indicators, and some recommendations are given for its  implementation.

The project, led by a panel of expert pharmacists, was developed in  2021 in four phases: a literature review, preliminary identification of quality  criteria and indicators, evaluation of indicators, adjustment of the proposal and definition of priority indicators, and drafting of descriptive files, as well as the  development and validation of a scorecard. The indicators were prioritized  based on their appropriateness, usefulness, relevance and feasibility. Finally,  the scorecard was submitted for evaluation by the members and Patient  Committee of the Spanish Hospital Pharmacy Society.

The resulting scorecard consists of 50 indicators grouped into five  areas: General aspects (18); pharmacotherapeutic follow-up (12); home drug  delivery (15); patient information and education (2); and coordination with the  care team (3). A total of 31 were considered priority or essential  indicators, which are initially recommended for the implementation of a  Telepharmacy program. In contrast, 15 are general indicators, including  measurement of patient and professional satisfaction; 6 indicators refer to  pharmacotherapeutic follow-up; 1 is related to patient information and  education, and 2 correspond to care team coordination.

The scorecard developed is a management tool for the implementation and evaluation of Telepharmacy in the Hospital pharmacy service. This tool enables assessing the initial situation, monitoring  implementation progress, measuring quality and performance, facilitating  decision-making and establishing an improvement plan.